LEWISTON, Maine -- Despite closing out the 2025 regular season Saturday with a pair of losses to first-place Tufts, Bates College softball is headed to the NESCAC postseason for the first time since 2023 as the Bobcats locked up the No. 6 seed in the upcoming championship tournament.
GAME ONE
Tufts opened Saturday's action with a dominant 13-0 victory in five innings.
After a scoreless first, the Jumbos broke through in the second when 3B Heaven Oliva led off with a solo home run to left in the third, Tufts capitalized on a walk and single before 1B Kaitlyn Perucci delivered a three-run homer, pushing the lead to 4-0.
The Jumbos continued to pile on runs in the fourth, aided by timely hits and a Bates error. Olivia's second home run of the game — a two-run shot in the fifth — highlighted a five-run inning that effectively put the game out of reach. DP Fallon O'Connor added three RBI, including a two-run single in the fifth, while Oliva and Perucci also drove in three apiece.
Sophia DiCocco (14-6) allowed just two hits over five innings, striking out two and walking two. The Bobcats' only real opportunity came in the fourth when they had runners on first and second with two outs, but Dicocco induced a pop-up to end the threat.
Tufts finished with 11 hits from nine different batters and scored in every inning except the first. Bates' starter Delaney Rankin (11-6) was charged with eight earned runs over four innings. Reliever Rhyan Wachal yielded three more in the fifth.
GAME TWO
Tufts (25-13, 15-3 NESCAC) wrapped up the doubleheader sweep with another decisive win, defeating the Bobcats 9-1.
The Jumbos, winners of nine-straight, got on the board in the third inning, when back-to-back singles by Perucci and SS Haley Leimbach set the table for Oliva's RBI base hit. An inning later, Tufts broke the game open with a six-run outburst, aided by two Bates miscues in the field. Leimbach delivered a two-run single in that frame, and C Keriann Slayton capped it with an RBI double to left center. Only one of the six runs was earned.
Tufts added insurance in the seventh when CF Lindsay Neumann launched a two-run homer to left—one of her three hits in the contest.
Lacy Chilek improved to 6–0 on the season with 6+ innings of work (5 H, R, 4 K) for the victors. Bates starter Brigid Gaffny (3-4) was charged with six runs—one earned—over 3.2 innings.
The garnet and white will take on No. 3 seed Wesleyan in the NESCAC quarterfinals next Saturday at noon (hosted by Tufts). The Cardinals (27-11) and Bobcats split a pair when they met back on Mar. 29 in Middletown, Conn.
The top-seed Jumbos will take on No. 8 Amherst Friday at 1:30 p.m. in a first-round matchup.
